NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday as the U.S. trade war with China hotted up.

China announced it was imposing tariffs on U.S. goods imported from the Unietd States into China, in a direct retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trumps levying of $200 billion of new tariffs on Chinese goods on Friday.

China announced its move on Monday despite a tweet from Mr Trump on Sunday warning the country not to retaliate.

Wall Street, which had shown little reaction to the breakdown in negotiations, which the announcement by Mr Trump of the new tariffs signalled, came out of its state of denial on Monday, and sent the major indices hurtling.

While more significant losses were recorded during the day, the indices managed to regain some composure towards the close. The damage however was substantial.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day Monday with a 617.38 points or 2.38% loss at 25,324.99.